Review: Putting Anne Deveson's Story On Stage, TELL ME I'M HERE Helps Raise The Understanding Of Schizophrenia And The Support Required For Sufferers And Their Loved Ones

Saturday 27th August 2022, 7:30pm, Belvoir St Theatre

Anne Deveson's memoir about life with a child suffering with Schizophrenia, TELL ME I'M HERE, is given the stage treatment in Veronica Nadine Gleeson's adaptation. Director Leticia Cáceres presents the moving story with an artful combination of dramatic recreations blended with the medium with which Anne's son Jonathan expressed himself and narrations of the memories that were captured on paper in the 1991 book.

As a writer, broadcaster and filmmaker, Anne Deveson was well known but her home life may not have been as widely understood, particularly the challenge of trying to help her eldest son Jonathan when he went from seemingly normal child to exhibiting unusual behaviors as he matured that were finally diagnosed as schizophrenia. Along with her work to raise awareness and support for sufferers and their families through organizations like the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW, her act of committing her memories and thoughts to print helped raise awareness of the mental disorder that is often linked with hallucinations, delusions, and a disconnect with their normal understanding of the world.

For this production, Nadine Garner takes on the mammoth role of recounting Anne's story as most of the story is narrated from Anne's point of view. Tom Conroy represents Jonathan at all ages, using his physicality to express his growth along with the effects of his illness and his main method of expressing what is in his mind, drawing. Jana Zvedeniuk and Raj Labade portray Anne's other children Georgia and Joshua, along with other characters that come in and out of Anne and Jonathan's story. Sean O'Shea assumes the role of the children's father and Anne's ex-husband Ellis Blain, along with other characters, including Anne's later love interest. The cast is rounded out by Deborah Galanos to portrays a variety of characters through costume changes and variations in accent.

While this is Anne's story, memories are replayed in the simply dressed set designed by Stephen Curtis. The white set is dominated by a wall of white inbuilt bookcases and cabinets and a large timber dining table. The white walls and floor serve as a surface for Jonathan's drawings which whilst crude, give a good insight into what is playing out in his mind as he grows up. The symbolism of the development of the Schizophrenia and how it also affects Anne as she tries to find avenues to help Jonathan in a society and system that didn't want to acknowledge the illness or thought it could be tortured out of him is as powerful as Anne's words.

This is an engaging and interesting work that will hopefully give more people an insight into the challenges that sufferers and their families and loved ones face. With more understanding maybe their will be more support for the necessary support services and more compassion for sufferers who often find themselves on the periphery of society as their illness prevents them from interacting in the same way as others. Regardless of your experience with mental disorders and sufferers, TELL ME I'M HERE is an important work worth catching.

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